Sleeping Louds
by Bouken Dutch 2.0
Summary: Crossover with Sleeping Beauties by Stephen and Owen King. The Aurora Flu hits the Loud House.


**Crossover (of sorts) with "Sleeping Beauties" by Stephen and Owen King.**

Monday morning, 7:30 AM. In the town of Royal Woods, the young boy named Lincoln Loud woke up to the sound of his alarm clock. He actually needed one now. Barely 4 days ago, the sound of his 10 sisters trying to beat each other to the bathroom in the morning would be enough to arouse him from his slumber, sometimes even as early as 6:15. But that time was over now. Possibly forever, though Lincoln didn't want to think that way. It was too depressing. Heck, this whole situation already was too depressing right now.

Lincoln grabbed his clean clothes and his loofah, and left his room. The hallway was empty, and eerily silent. The doors of the five bedrooms that belonged to his sisters were all open, but no sound came from these rooms either. No explosions from Lisa's failed experiments. No Loud music or bad puns. No Lori talking on her phone. No Lily crying or Lana playing with her pets. Only silence. From downstairs Lincoln could hear his father's voice, but despite the silence in the house he still couldn't make out the words. Which meant the poor man was probably talking in a soft voice to his wife, begging her to wake up. He hadn't left Rita's side since she fell asleep yesterday afternoon.

Lincoln sighed as he made his way to the bathroom, stopping at every door along the way to take a quick look inside, hoping for a miracle. But there was still no change for Lori, Leni, Luna, Luan, Lynn, Lucy, Lola, Lana, Lisa, and even baby Lily.

All were fast asleep.

And all of them where envelopped in the same, white, silk-like substance. Like catterpillars in cocoons. That's what the scientists on the news called them; Cocoons. Downstairs, in the parents room, his mother was lying on her bed, in the exact same condition as her daughters. Just looking at them made Lincoln clench his fists in anger. It wasn't fair. Yes, he knew the Aurora flu, as they called it, was a worldwide epidemic and his sisters and mother were just 11 of the millions of victims. But still, it hurt.

* * *

Lincoln clearly rememberd the panic when Aurora, a disease first thought to be limited to Australia, first reached the United States. It was all over the news, on every channel. Lisa, being the genius that she was, immediately set her mind to trying to find a cure, and urged her sisters and mother to stay awake for as long as possible. Sady, that was easier said than done.

Leni was the first of the Louds to fall victim to the mysterious sleeping desease. The poor girl had hardly slept the night before since she was working on a new dress, and when she took a nap that afternoon, the cocoon began to form on her face, and then the rest of her body.

Lori discovered the sleeping Leni. And in her panic, she forgot the warning issued by the news reports not to try and remove the substance, at any cost. Before any of the Louds could stop her, she had torn a significant section of the white silk away from Leni's face. The result was exactly as in that video from The Bright Ones. Leni woke up, but nothing was left of the sweet, dimwitted girl that she used to be. With a loud roar that sounded more like a lion she leaped up from her bed, tackled Lori to the ground and began to claw at her face. Fortunately, Lynn Sr., Lincoln, Luna and Rita were able to pull her off Lori before Leni could do any serious damage, but the girl was out of control. In the end, they were forced to lock her into her bedroom untill she went back into that mysterious, deep sleep. She hadn't been out of the room since.

Lily was next, being just a baby and thus needing more sleep than any of the others. Rita insisted on bringing her to the hospital, but Lisa objected, pointing out how all hospitals in Royal Woods and surrounding towns would already be crowded. Besides, she needed a victim for her study to find a cure. Reluctantly, Rita and Lynn Sr. agreed.

But a cure never came, because Lisa herself succumbed to Aurora before she managed to find one. She managed to stay awake for a full 48 hours, using every trick she could think of to fight the sleep. Strong coffee, having Luna play loud music, and even Dexedrine. But she was only four, and a genius or not, she still needed her sleep as much as any four year old girl. Saturday morning, 2 days after Aurora struck the Loud House, Lynn Sr. found her on the floor of her room, a test tube still clenched in her hand, but her face already completely covered in the white silk.

Lucy, Lana and Lola were even less fortunate. Lola, being a beauty pageant, refused to give up on her beauty sleep, and was the next one after Lily to go. Lana and Lucy went around the same time. Lincoln found Lucy in one of the air vents. She must have dozed off while writing a poem there.

The other Loud girls managed to hold on a little longer, by any means necessary. But their lack of sleep soon began to take it's toll on their wellbeing, and their temper. The Louds were already prone to getting into sibling fights, but the lack of sleep multiplied it a hundred times. Even the usually patient Rita would burst into anger at the slightest provocation, or sometimes for no reason at all. Over half the Louds supply of plates, vases and other breakable household objects got destroyed in the various fights. Lincoln and Lynn Sr. tried their best to break up fights before they got too out of hand, but it was only 2 of them versus 7 girls and 1 woman. And in the end, it was all for naught. No cure came, and one by one the Loud girls succumbed to Aurora. Rita being the last one the previous evening.

* * *

After a quick shower and getting dressed, Lincoln made his way downstairs. The living room was quite a mess from the previous days, but neither he nor his dad felt any need to clean up. Only the kitchen still looked reasonable since; Lincoln had made sure of that. The house basically belonged to just the two of them now, and they had bigger problems to worry about. Society as a whole had taken a big hit due to had heard about the second Great Chicago Fire.

Fortunately, the Louds still had plenty of food. With a large family, it was necessary to keep a big supply of everything, and now there were only two people who actually needed it. So, there was no risk they would starve soon, but that was about the only possitive thing about the whole situation.

There would be no school today, or for who knew how long. School was closed till further notice. All female teachers had been hit by Aurora, including Lincoln's own teacher Mrs. Johnson. So, Lincoln had a lot of free time now, and barely anyone left to spend it with.

First, Lincoln made both himself and his dad a simple breakfast, and after finishing his, he took Lynn Sr.'s plate to the parents bedroom. As expected, his father was sitting next to the bed, holding Rita's hand. You could tell that the man had barely slept himself despite being in no danger of getting Aurora. He only nodded as Lincoln put the plate on the bed's nightstand, before turning his gaze back to Rita. Lincoln also said nothing. He knew his dad would leave the room eventually to use the bathroom, and later that day to make himself and Lincoln some sort of dinner. But other than that he would stay by Rita's side all day long. The restaurant where he worked now had been closed since the Aurora epidemic started, but Lincoln doubted if it made any difference to his dad had it been open.

Next, he had to feed the pets. Lincoln had to take care of all of them now, including Lana's.

After that, he would go back to his room and either wait for Bobby to video call him, or call Bobby himself. The situation at the Casagrande's was just as bad as at the Louds, with all the women in the family now asleep due to Aurora. Including Ronnie Anne. Bobby had send Lincoln a photo of her once, but Lincoln deleted it after just one quick look. He didn't have to see his secret-girlfriend with that white silk on her face, and by now she would be entirely cocooned. And Bobby would most likely not want to see Lori like this either, so Lincoln had refused to send him any pictures.

For the Casagrande's, the situation was even more severe. Ever since the fake news that the cocoons where contagious got out, lots of cities had seen the rise of vigilante movements called Blowtorch Brigades. And they were active in the city Bobby and Ronnie Anne now lived. From what Bobby had told him, the Cassagrande's had barricaded their house and so far been able to keep anyone with ill intentions out. Lincoln thanked heavens Royal Woods had been spared this madness, but he knew his dad was carrying his gun 24/7 now just in case.

Sure enough, Bobby called him not long after LIncoln got his laptop started up. Like the day before, the conversation mostly consisted of Lincoln trying his best to console Bobby. The poor guy had always been quite sensitive, especially when Lori was involved, and now his mother and sister weren't there for him anymore.

Immediately after calling Bobby, Lincoln called Pop-Pop in the Sunset Canyon Retirement Home to let him know how things were going in the Loud House. The man had offered several times already to move in with the Louds untill this nightmare was over, but Lincoln talked him out of it. There was nothing Pop-Pop would be able to do for his daughter and granddaughters, and Lincoln knew he was needed in the nursery home itself now that most of the staff, including Sue, was gone, and many of the inhabitants needed help just to get through their daily routines. Pop-Pop, being a former marine, was one of the few people still capable of lending a hand.

After these calls, Lincoln made his way to the McBride house, taking Charles with him so the dog could get his daily walk. He planned to spend the mayority of his day there, with Clyde and his dads. Deep down he didn't like it, since it felt like running away from the situation back in his own house, but what else was there to do? His own house just didn't feel like his house anymore, not without his sisters. And live in the McBride house was still relatively normal. None of the three inhabitants had caught Aurora, considering they were all men, they too had a large food supply to last them months in case of an emergency, and the house itself was solar powerd so they were not in danger of a blackout. But Lincoln knew them all long enough to see that the McBrides too were suffering. They still had female relatives like Clyde's nana who got hit by Aurora. And none of them could rely any longer on psychiatric help from the family therapist Dr. Lopez, since Dr. Lopez had succumbed to Aurora last Saturday.

The visits to the McBride house consisted mostly of Lincoln and Clyde reading comics (mostly old ones, probably no new ones would get out for a while), and playing board games with Howard and Harold. All in order to try and forget the terrible truth. In between, Lincoln would offer a listening ear to the McBrides as a substitute for Dr. Lopez. Having to emotionally support both Bobby and the McBrides was exhausting, but it was all Lincoln could do to help improve the situation a little.

At the end of the afternoon Lincoln returned home with Charles. Here, he and Lynn Sr. had a simple dinner. Neither father nor son spoke much during their meal. What was there to say after all? Afterwards Lynn Sr. watched the news while Lincoln first cleaned up the kitchen, and then went back to his room for the rest of the evening.

As he lay in bed that evening, Lincoln feared this would become his new routine now. For who knew how long. Thill Aurora was cured, if it ever was, or till society got back on it's feet enough to reopen the schools. Tomorrow he would repeat everything from today; make breakfast, call Bobby and Pop-Pop, help the McBrides, and try to keep the house from becomming too much of a mess. And the day after. And the day after. After all, it was the only way to keep himself from falling into despair. To keep his mind occupied.

All while waiting. And hoping.

For an end to this nightmare.

For his sisters and mother to wake up.

For the day the Loud House would truly be Loud again.


End file.
